LET'S MOVE TO Hawarden

THIS WELSH VILLAGE IS STEEPED IN CHARACTER AND HISTORY

- SOPHIE GALES

Hawarden’s traditional red brick houses

Not one, but two castles adorn the rolling landscape around Hawarden (pronounced ‘Harden’) in Flintshire, north Wales, recently recognised by The Sunday Times among the UK’s top 50 villages. Hawarden Castle is a turreted, 18th-century beauty and within its grounds are the ruins of the Old Castle. The village is small, with around 2,000 people, but is large on character. One resident in particular left his mark: Victorian Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone is Hawarden Castle’s most famous resident. In later years, he even became a tourist attraction, with visitors arriving by the train load in hope of catching a glimpse of ‘The Grand Old Man’ oft seen felling trees, by axe, in the castle grounds.

Gladstone founded the village’s library

IN THE ESTATE AGENT’S WINDOW